Bassie En Adriaan

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/wiki/Bassie En Adriaancreator

Hugely popular Dutch children's duo who have been active since 1978. "Bassie" (played by Bas van Toor) is a naive, but jolly clown who always cracks jokes. "Adriaan" (played by Ad van Toor) is the more intelligent, serious but nevertheless also happy-go-lucky acrobat. In real life the actors are brothers who indeed formerly had a career in the circus. Near the end of the 1970s they started making TV series for children, usually treasure hunting adventures which took them to exotic locations. They are often spied and shadowed by a group of villains, usually the Baron and his henchmen or "Vlugge Japie". Since Ad van Toor usually played the role of the Baron and Bas van Toor "Vlugge Japie" Bassie and Adriaan and the thieves are never seen in the same scene together.

The series was a huge Cash Cow Franchise in both the Netherlands as Belgium and was also sold to other countries like France and China. Music records, comic strips, videos, theater shows,... were made and since the actors kept all the marketing and merchandising rights they became rich. Since 1994 no new shows have been made, but due to frequent repeats, media appearances and parodies Bassie and Adriaan remain popular and famous.

Bassie En Adriaan provides examples of the following tropes:
  • Amusing Injuries: The villains
  • Aristocrats Are Evil: A baron is the main antagonist.
  • Bilingual Bonus: In the season "De Geheimzinnige Opdracht" Bassie and Adriaan travelled to the (in 1992) 12 countries of the European Union. They sang a few songs where they translate words in a certain language (French, Spanish, German, Danish, Italian, Grecian, Portugese) into Dutch.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Bassie and Adriaan frequently address the audience at the start and end of each episode by saying hello and goodbye to the children at home. At the start of a new episode they will explain to them what happened in the previous episode. And the musical numbers in between are always sing-a-long songs.
  • Butt Monkey: B100 will always be injured or unlucky. It's even his catchphrase: "I'm always unlucky! They always want me."
  • Cash Cow Franchise
  • Catch Phrase:
    • "Allememaggies"- Bassie
    • "Wazeggie? (...) Je hoeft niet zo te schreeuwen. Ik ben niet doof!" - B2
    • "Foutje, moet kunnen, baas." - Handige Harry
    • ""Drommels, drommels, en nog eens... drommels!"- De Baron
    • "Stommeling, uilskuiken, bal gehakt, frikandel, zak patat, bitterbal, bamihap!"- De Baron
    • "Ik voel het aan m'n neus, die heeft me nog nooit in de steek gelaten." - B100
    • "Ik heb ook altijd pech. Ze moeten ook altijd mij hebben." - B100
  • Disabled Means Helpless: The villain B2 is stone deaf and understands everything incorrectly. Yet when people scream at him he says: "You don't have to scream at me. I'm not deaf!"
  • "Everybody Laughs" Ending: It's even Adriaan's life rule: "Whatever happens, keep on laughing."
  • Evil Laugh: The Baron
  • Good Is Boring: Adriaan is the less enjoyable character in the series, since he is very normal and has no special eccentric characteristics.
  • Long Runners: Since 1978
  • Missed Him by That Much: Since the main protagonists and villains were usually played by the same actors they are seldom seen in the same scenes together. Most of the time the villains spy and shadow Bassie and Adriaan but each time they are about to close in something goes wrong and without knowing their luck Bassie and Adriaan manage to continue their walk.
  • Musical World Hypotheses: Bassie and Adriaan's adventures are frequently interrupted for a sing-a-long musical number, despite the fact that their adventures take place in the real world.
  • No Except Yes: Used as a repeated example:

Bassie (usually while drifting to sleep): I'll go look at that on the inside of my eyes.

    • Usually this implied "I'm going to dream about that."
      • Bassie also frequently says: "Yes, I understand, but I don't get it."
  • No Name Given: The Baron is also nicknamed "The Baron".
  • Non-Fatal Explosions: Villains plotting to take out the titular heroes with a bomb, which more often than not ended up exploding in their faces instead.
  • Race Against the Clock
  • Robot Buddy: In the early seasons Bassie and Adriaan have an intelligent robot friend to help them out.
  • Rule of Three: When Bassie cries Adriaan will ask him twice what is wrong and only the third time, when he actually asks him why he is crying Bassie explains the reason of his grief.
  • Running Gag: Zillions!
    • Bassie often says "Dat moet ik eens even aan de binnenkant van m'n ogen bekijken." ("I have to look at the from the inside of my eyes.")
    • Bassie is excited at the prospect of eating whipped cream cakes.
    • Whenever Bassie is sad or frightened he starts making high pitched squeaking sounds. Then Adriaan asks him twice "what is wrong?" until the third time when he asks: "Bassie, why are you crying?", whereupon Bassie finally explains the reason of his grief.
    • Bassie often teases Adriaan by making jokes at his expense, whereupon Adriaan always laughingly says: "Wacht, ik zal je!" ("Wait, I'll get you!")
    • One of the villains, Handige Harry, usually prepares bombs that explode in the faces of the villains themselves because Harry did something wrong. This causes the Baron to become furious.
    • Whenever his spies lose track of Bassie and Adriaan the Baron crushes his (cell) phone in furious anger.
  • Soundtrack Dissonance: The show frequently used the theme from the horror movie Halloween and The Exorcist during chase scenes.
  • Worthless Treasure Twist: one of the seasons has them go on holiday in Greece. While diving, Bassie finds a stone tablet with strange writing. When they call they call their friends back home and ask them to translate the tablet, the regular villains overhear them and partial translations suggest it is gives the location of sources of wealth and/or power. Guess what these are?
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